Architectural Photography Offers Challenges To Beginners

Taking pictures of buildings may lack the actual excitement of, say an automobile race, but it also lacks the need for experience that taking pictures of cars moving at upwards of 200 miles per hour. Whilst not considered glamorous on numerous levels, architectural photography does present some technical challenges. While the building usually will not move or blink as you click the shutter, their very design makes them difficult to recreate on film.

Whether you select a film or digital camera for architectural photography does not matter but the choice of digital camera format and lens may make a difference in the print. Not that the building will usually complain about the picture, without the right equipment and a little bit of understanding, your picture will probably not really stand out in a group.

Typically, when you take a picture of a building, you will be aiming upwards, which causes the convergence of the vertical lines of the building, converging more the further up the picture you look. Convergence will be the opposite if shooting down on a building from an surrounding structure, for example. Experts involved in architectural photography usually use large format cameras such as 4 inch by five inch reflex film camera, however these are expensive and for the occasional building picture, may not be well worth the investment.

Good Results Made From Standard Cameras

The use of a tripod can benefit a new venture into architectural photography using a standard 35mm camera. The choice of lenses is typically in the 20mm to 200 millimeters range, with anything wider making the building seem distorted. Lenses under 20mm are often referred to as a fish-eye zoom lens for a reason. The 20mm lens will often just about all higher floors of a creating to be captured without the convergence.

From a legal stand point architectural pictures will not usually be considered a problem provided the picture is actually taken from a public accessible point and the picture is not planned with regard to commercial use. In today’s protection-minded environment a person near a building with a camera usually draws interest. If you have to look at private property to obtain the position of a building you want it is best to ask permission to avoid trespassing complaints. Additionally, if you want to use the picture for financial gain it is always best to bet permission from the building’s owner as some may consider architectural photography a violation of trademark or the laws of copyright.

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